The best movies and television from a difficult year for Israelis

There are all kinds of genres on these lists, but they all have one trait in common: They were good enough to hold our interest in a year when our real lives were looking more unreal.

By HANNAH BROWN DECEMBER 31, 2024 06:08

INTERNATIONAL MOVIE – ‘There’s Still Tomorrow.’ (photo credit: LEV CINEMAS)

This was the year that we hoped the war would end, and these are the movies and television, both from around the world and from Israel, that helped us get through it. These titles were drawn from what was released in Israel during 2024.

Making up these top-10 lists, I became aware of the recent revitalization of the Israeli television and movie industry, as some of the best movies and television in a decade were released this year. There were both new talents making their debuts and veteran filmmakers doing fine work.

In the Israeli movie category, I included several documentaries that were originally made for the small screen, but which were so good, they ended up competing in international film festivals as standalone films.

There are all kinds of genres on these lists, but they all have one trait in common: They were good enough to hold our interest in a year when our real lives were looking more unreal.

Best International Movies 

1. There’s Still Tomorrow – Paola Cortellesi’s graceful, heartfelt drama about a Roman housewife just after World War II told a universal story of a woman’s struggle to break free of a repressive society.
2. Anatomy of a Fall – Sandra Huller gave a transcendent performance that made what could have been an ordinary whodunit into a masterful look at what went wrong in a marriage.
3. A Difficult Year – The crowd-pleasing, critically acclaimed directing duo of Eric Toledano and Olivier Nakache kept their streak going with this darkly funny look at two hustlers trying to make ends meet who stumble into a climate activism group.
4. Thelma – Nonagenarian June Squibb gave a brilliant, funny performance as a grandma out for revenge after she gets swindled in a phone scam, and the movie was also the swan song for Richard Roundtree (Shaft) as her old friend.
5. Tatami – Guy Nattiv and Zar Amir Ebrahimi teamed up to make a fact-based story of an Iranian judoka who defies the Iranian regime in this gripping and emotional drama set in the world of competitive judo.
6. The Monk and the Gun – The second movie by Bhutanese director Pawo Choyning Dorji is a fascinating comedy-drama about his country’s first democratic elections that can also tell us a lot about our own political struggles.
7. Ezra – Screenwriter Tony Spiridakis drew on his own experience as the father of a son on the autism spectrum to create this story of a stand-up comedian (Bobby Cannavale) trying to be a good father to his autistic son (William A. Fitzgerald).
8. Treasure – Stephen Fry and Lena Dunham made for an endearing but troubled father-daughter duo in a story of their trip to Poland to try to come to terms with the father’s Holocaust memories, in an adaptation of a Lily Brett novel that was directed by Julia von Heinz.
9. My Old Ass – It’s hard to beat this title (pun intended), which features Aubrey Plaza as an older version of a teen girl, with Percy Hynes White in a star-making performance as the guy who is either the greatest or the worst thing to have ever happened to her.
10. The Commandant’s Shadow – Daniela Volker’s documentary tells the true story of the Auschwitz commandant and of the impact of living in the death camp, both for his family and the camp’s inmates decades later.

Best Israeli Movies

1. Come Closer – Tom Nesher’s directorial debut is a moving story of love and loss, inspired by the death of her own brother, but which is told in such a way that it has a universal appeal.
2. Eid – Yousef Abo Madegem’s brilliant first film tells an unpredictable story of a Bedouin construction worker in Rahat, coping with the trauma of sexual abuse, who dreams of writing like Jean Genet.
3. Table for Eight, aka Abigail – This news feature by Ben Shani for the Uvda program on Keshet 12 told the story of Abigail Mor Idan, a three-year-old from Kibbutz Kfar Aza whose parents were murdered in front of her and who was then taken hostage by Hamas in Gaza, and of her new life after she was adopted by her aunt and uncle following her release. This is an incredible piece of documentary filmmaking.
4. We Will Dance Again – Yariv Mozer’s feature-length documentary was the most cinematic of all the October 7 documentaries so far and told the harrowing story of the massacre at the Supernova Music Festival from different points of view.
5. Eyes Wide Open – Noa Aharoni’s documentary for Kan 11 is about the female border observers who were killed and kidnapped from the Nahal Oz military base in heartbreaking detail.
6. Matchmaking 2 – Israelis needed a comedy this year and Erez Tadmor gave them one with this star-studded rom-com about ultra-Orthodox dating.
7. The Property – Dana Modan’s winning adaptation of her sister Rutu Modan’s graphic novel told a quirky story of a grandmother and granddaughter visiting Warsaw to reclaim family property.
8. A Room of His Own – Matan Yair’s film about a troubled teen and his dysfunctional family rang true in every moment.
9. Kissufim – Keren Nechmad’s coming-of-age story of a group of young Israelis volunteering on a kibbutz near the Gaza Strip in 1977 was a compelling look at the tensions of an earlier period.
10. Rabbi Capoeira – Barak Heymann’s documentary about a young ultra-Orthodox man who has made it his life’s mission to integrate the dance-like, acrobatic martial art of capoeira into Bnei Brak is offbeat and appealing.

ISRAELI MOVIE - 'We Will Dance Again.' (credit: SHAX PHOTOGRAPHY)

Best International Television

1. Slow Horses – This series about MI5 rejects is still the funniest and most suspenseful series on television, with great performances, especially by Gary Oldman.
2. The Bear – The third season in this series about a star chef from a dysfunctional family turning his family’s greasy-spoon joint into a fine-dining establishment didn’t quite match its previous season, but it had some great episodes, notably one with Jamie Lee Curtis as the protagonist’s troubled mom.
3. Rivals – This deliberately over-the-top adaptation of Jilly Cooper’s novel about country living and the TV business in the 1980s was fun from start to finish.
4. Only Murders in the Building – The story about three mismatched New York friends making a podcast about crime continues to live up to the description, “Seinfeld with murder.”
5. In Restless Dreams: The Music of Paul Simon – This fascinating two-part series looked at the iconic singer-songwriter’s music from his teen years up to the present.
6. The Day of the Jackal – A straightforward and constantly suspenseful spy drama about British intelligence searching for an international assassin featured Eddie Redmayne and Lashana Lynch.
7. Disclaimer – A psychological thriller featuring stories that eventually connect in unexpected ways, it starred Cate Blanchett, Kevin Kline and Sacha Baron Cohen.
8. We Were the Lucky Ones – The adaptation of Georgia Hunter’s epic novel based on her family’s story of survival during the Holocaust lived up to the book, and featured a great cast that included Joey King, Logan Lerman, Hadas Yaron, and Lior Ashkenazi.
9. Hacks – The comic series about a veteran stand-up (Jean Smart) trying to stay relevant and the young writer (Hannah Einbinder) hired to reinvent her gets funnier each season.
10. Feud: Capote vs. the Swans – This series focused on literary gossip and New York high society in its retelling of the spat between Truman Capote (Tom Hollander) and Babe Paley (Naomi Watts), with other characters played by Diane Lane and Demi Moore.

INTERNATIONAL TV - 'Slow Horses.' (credit: Apple TV+)

Best Israeli Television

1. Bad Boy – The series by Ron Leshem and Hagar Ben Asher about a troubled teen incarcerated in a brutal juvenile detention center who becomes a stand-up comedian tells a riveting, unforgettable story.
2. Eretz Nehederet – Israel’s Saturday Night Live reached new heights this year making Israelis laugh at themselves, and even at all those militias shooting missiles at us.
3. Tehran – The series about a Mossad agent trying to take down the Iranian nuclear program has always been good, but it’s especially fun to watch the third season, as it plays out against a backdrop of the anti-hijab protests.
4. Kugel – The Shtisel prequel starring Sasson Gabay and Hadas Yaron as a father and daughter in an ultra-Orthodox community in Antwerp features the charm that made Shtisel a worldwide hit.
5. One Day in October – The first drama series about October 7 features stories of a bicyclist saved by Bedouin, two girls hiding at Supernova, ambulance drivers risking their lives, and a woman confronting the loss of her son and husband.
6. Indal – Ethiopian youth fighting a system stacked against them is the focus of this dramatic series, which strives to be a kind of Israeli version of The Wire.
7. Save the Date – A contemporary Cinderella story about a wedding planner faced with more potential suitors than she can handle is light fun, and made a star out of Adi Havshush.
8. Manayek – The hard-hitting drama about police corruption starring Shalom Assayag kept viewers on the edge of their seats in its latest season.
9. The Deer – This series featuring Suzanna Papian as a young, gutsy Russian immigrant in late 19th-century Jerusalem, who begins to write for Eliezer Ben Yehuda’s newspaper, brought an unusual story to life.
10. A tie for two female-centric series that aired their final seasons this year: My Darling Sisters – The extremely funny series ended on a gentle note as two of the trio try to find their bliss in India and then discover there’s no place like home, in spite of everything, and Dismissed – Alona Sa’ar and her colleagues continued to poke fun at some of the army’s most earnest and most rebellious recruits.

ISRAELI TV - 'Bad Boy.' (credit: HOT, SIPUR, TEDY PRODUCTIONS)